Our Strength and Shield

As we end up our series on the Fruit of the Spirit, we look today at Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  Therefore my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song.” (CSB) Even though the Fruit of the Spirit isn’t mentioned in our verse today, we know that producing Fruit in our lives isn’t always easy.  Psalm 28:7 reminds us that we gain our strength from the Lord and He is a shield around us.

As I was talking to my hubby about this verse and how to incorporate the Fruit of the Spirit with the idea of God being our strength and shield, he reminded me that it is God who gives us the strength to be able to produce the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. 

As we work on producing Fruit, sometimes we run into interference from the enemy of our souls.  It is then that God also becomes our shield.  Isaiah 59:19 says, “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (KJV) We have an adversary who doesn’t want us to succeed in living a Fruitful life, showing a life of submission to God that would bring Him glory and honor.

Satan has a job and we do also.  His job is to trip us up, make us turn away from God, and then condemn us when we sin.  He doesn’t want to see us live a life of consecration to God. Nothing would make him happier than to see us NOT produce Spiritual Fruit because he knows that if we are productive and show that Fruit in our lives, we will give honor and glory to Jesus, we will be successful in running our race and reaching our goal (1 Corinthians 9:24), and our lives will be an example to others of what God can do in and through us.  Our job is to produce Spiritual Fruit so that we live holy lives, being that light in the darkness and witnessing to others so that they will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

It is Jesus who gives us the strength to endure the fiery darts of the enemy and help us be successful in producing the Spiritual Fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) He becomes a shield around us when the attacks of the enemy bombard us.  He is our protection against the onslaught of condemnation being hailed against us by the enemy of our souls.  It is the Holy Spirit’s whisper of Scripture and reassurance to our hearts that serve as an encouragement to us that strengthens and protects us.  He is our helper and with each victory, He helps us win, we trust Him more. 

I like what Isaiah says at the end of the verse, “Therefore my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song.”  Because God is our helper and shield, we can rejoice!  It is God who brings the victory as each Fruit is produced in our lives, and we then can sing praises to His Name for everything He has done in our lives.  That is cause for celebration, don’t you think?